Synopses of Plays

• AGING GRACE one-act drama Cast: 3 women

Dysfunctional sisters meet to discuss placing their ailing mother in a nursing home. As they deliberate their mother’s deteriorating mental state, their opposing personalities and childhood animosities resurface and hinder their ability to come to a consensus regarding their mother’s future.

A modern interpretation of William Shakespeare’s comedy set in California in 1969.

• BEHOLD THE MAN full-length drama Cast: 4 men, 2 women

A team of American archaeologists and their students conduct research each summer in Israel. Led by Dr. Peter Matthews, a respected scientist and professor, they begin working on a dig in a rural area of the country. After finding several artifacts from the first millennia, Matthews, along with Dr. Sheila Walker, and their Israeli colleague, Dr. Simon Kesselman, make a major discovery that sends them reeling. Before they can announce their find to the appropriate authorities, word leaks out and their world is suddenly turned upside down. Academic jealousy, political agendas, and an over-zealous media converge to discredit their work, rob them of their evidence, and threaten their careers.

• BUFORD AND LEROY one-actcomedy Cast: 2 men

Buford and Leroy, two redneck buddies, meet in the city park to hash over why Leroy cannot attend the Monster Truck Challenge that evening. This one-act play was the basis for the full-length play, Trailer Park Tango.

The Collision of Venus and Mars is an amusing take on the battle of the sexes. When Mike awakens one morning with a throbbing libido, he finds that his wife is not in the mood. Refusing to take no for an answer, he tries his best to manipulate her into giving in.

• THE CRUCIFIXION OF MOE AND IRA 10-minute comedy Cast: 2 men

On a sunny morning in Judea in the year 30 A.D., Moe and Ira meet at a crucifixion—their own! Each has been condemned to death on the cross. Moe, a clown, is being executed for telling irreverent political jokes while Ira, a Samaritan, was sentenced for accidentally desecrating a mosaic of Caesar. As they hang from the cross awaiting their deaths, they discuss their crimes and perhaps find a way to avoid some of the suffering and agony that await them.

• DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER 10-minute comedy Cast: 1 man, 1 woman

A humorous take on a dog and a cat coexisting in the same environment. Lucky’s exuberance for all things coupled with Miss Kitty’s haughty disdain is a continuous source of conflict, and their discordant personalities constantly test their abilities to maintain détente.

• GHOSTS OF NORMANDY one-act drama Cast: 3 men

When his son and grandson offer him the opportunity to go to France to attend the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day, World War II veteran Henry Jackson refuses. When asked why, he finally opens up about his time as a soldier during the Normandy Invasion. Never having spoken about it to anyone, he recounts his grueling combat experience and the physical and psychological trauma he suffered serving his country.

• JOANNA ON MY MIND one-act drama Cast: 1 man, 1 woman

Once they were high school sweethearts. But when circumstances separated them after graduation, their lives developed separately. Now, after forty-two years, Bill and Pearl meet again and sense the spark between them continues to glow. But revelations about the past threaten to drive a wedge between them, and only time will tell whether there is any hope for a future together.

A U.S. government building explodes leaving Jack and Sarah trapped in a small pocket of space surrounded by a jungle of wreckage and destruction. Surviving the blast with relatively minor injuries, these two strangers do what they can to survive. Their predicament provides the catalyst for exploring their plight, themselves, and each other.

After Meriwether Lewis’ triumphant return from exploring the Louisiana Purchase in 1806, President Thomas Jefferson appointed his protégé to the position of Governor of the Louisiana Territory. History has long concluded Lewis died by suicide while he was traveling from St. Louis to Washington D.C. in an effort to justify his governmental expenditures. But his surviving family members as well as a number of historians believe he was murdered. The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis depicts the last sixteen months of Lewis’ life: his friendship with William Clark, his health issues, his frustrations governing, and the people and events that led to his assassination along the Natchez Trace.

• NEFARIOUS one-act drama Cast: 3 men, 2 women

Four strangers awaken to find they have been abducted and left in a huge empty building with a small space lit by a single light from the ceiling. As they ponder their situation, they discover they all have jobs that involve opposing government policies in one way or another. But things take a sinister turn when a man in black appears.

• PAST PRESENT TENSE full-length dramedy Cast: 5 men, 4 women

Four one-act plays unfold in the same park in the same Midwestern city. Buford and Leroy, Shooting Pool with a Rope, Aging Grace, and Joanna on My Mind offer four engaging stories for a full evening of Midwestern charm.

A Kentucky family struggles to maintain its thoroughbred racing enterprise in the wake of its owner’s death. Margaret, the family matriarch, is determined to hold things together as her son and grandson continue training an outstanding young thoroughbred. But a tragedy threatens to destroy not only the family, but also its chances of regaining the former glory and prestige of Apple Valley Farms.

• SERENDIPITY one-act comedy Cast: 1 men, 2 women

When James is shown into the hospital’s waiting room, he assumes he is there for some preparatory work prior to a surgery. He has agreed to participate in an experimental procedure to donate an organ to his twin brother. But when Gisele enters, his day veers off in a direction he could not have imagined. At first he is taken aback by the seemingly bizarre young woman who carries a hammer and a crescent wrench in her purse. But as they wait to be called in for their respective appointments, the two strike up a conversation and find they are mutually attracted to one another.

• SHOOTING POOL WITH A ROPE one-act drama Cast: 2 men

An encounter in a park between a sixteen-year-old boy and a sixty-eight-year-old man sets the stage for an experience that will change the direction of their lives. Al, a retired businessman has been estranged from his former wife and child for over forty years, and he has come back to establish contact with his daughter. Stacey’s mother is hospitalized and dying of cancer. With no father or family to fall back on, he faces placement with a foster family. Through their conversation, Stacey discovers that Al is the grandfather who “disappeared” while Al learns that his daughter has only weeks to live. Stacey’s anger and Al’s guilt collide as the two attempt to deal with one another for the first time.

A shaft of light illuminates a small space with two large bags lying on the floor. After a moment, a man and a woman emerge from their respective bags and find they are in some bizarre, black void with no walls, doors or windows. Unable to determine where they are or how they got there, the two individuals discover their memories have somehow been erased. They don’t even know their own names. During this short snippet of time, they try to discover the nature of this strange reality and why they are there.

When a forest fire drives the gnomes from their homes, they are forced to live close to the land of the trolls, their sworn enemies. But when a gnome girl and a troll girl meet and become friends, the bigotry of their parents threatens to destroy their friendship. With the help of an elf wizard, the girls prevent a war and prove to their parents that long established prejudices are based on false assumptions and exaggerated stories from the past.

Set in a mobile home court in a small Illinois town, Trailer Park Tango exposes the comic eccentricities of life in redneck America. Buford Koontz and Leroy Funt have been friends since grade school. But when Leroy’s minister brother is arrested for soliciting prostitution, his friendship with Buford is put to the test. Add to the mix Leroy’s overbearing mother and his new girlfriend, and events lead to an uproarious state of affairs.

• TWISTED one-act drama Cast: 3 men, 1 woman

A real estate agent meets with a prospective buyer interested in purchasing a Victorian-era house for restoration. But when the agent’s wife arrives, surprise plot twists and character revelations expose a lurid tale of deception, betrayal, and murder.

• UNCLE VANYA full-length adaptation drama Cast: 6 men, 4 women

A new English language version of Anton Chekhov’s play of love, frustration, and imploding lives in Czarist Russia.

Wally and the Beav is a ribald parody of the Leave it to Beaver television series. When Eddie Haskell opens the bathroom door to discover Beaver “goofin’ around with himself,” Wally and Beaver’s bedroom turns loud and raucous. The uproar brings Ward upstairs, and he employs his fatherly wisdom to set the boys straight on the facts of life.

• THE WRITER AND THE THIEF 10-minute comedy/drama Cast: 2 men

It is the early nineteenth century, and two middle-aged men are incarcerated in a French prison cell, enduring torture for their crimes. Gustave, a well-spoken writer, and Emile, a swindler, pass the time discussing their torture, disagreeing about good taste, and arguing about the nature of literary ownership. But in the end, a surprise revelation changes their predicament and provides hope for the future of life on the outside.